A new Sky Bet Championship season begins on Friday night when two of the expected promotion protagonists battle it out at the Vitality Stadium as Bournemouth host West Bromwich Albion in a tasty looking contest.
Bournemouth suffered the heartache of failing in the play-offs last season while West Brom were relegated from the Premier League so both teams are hoping for happier results come the end of this term.
Bournemouth
The fallout from the play-off semi-final defeat to Brentford meant that Jonathan Woodgate is no more as Bournemouth manager. Scott Parker begins a new era in charge of the club here and he’ll do so with plenty of expectation on his shoulders. I don’t necessarily think Bournemouth did much wrong in that defeat to Brentford at the end of last term but it never looks good when you surrender a two goal lead in a semi-final of that magnitude.
Man for man there is no doubt in my mind that Bournemouth can be at the top of the table. The one thing to look out for here will be the style of play that Parker likes to employ and whether he has managed to install that in a relatively short space of time. The other thing to look out for is whether they are solid enough defensively. It took him an age to make Fulham tight at the back and you get the feeling Bournemouth will need to be tight to achieve their aims.
West Brom
It isn’t just Bournemouth who begin a new era here. West Brom do too after Sam Allardyce decided he didn’t fancy a season in the Championship after failing to keep them in the Premier League last term. Valerien Ismael is the man who has been assigned the task of guiding the Baggies back to the Premier League. He did amazing things at Barnsley with players probably of a slightly lesser level who were probably happy to buy into his methods and enjoy the ride.
Whether he can have the same impression on players who are probably overpaid and on a downer remains to be seen. You have to be very fit to play the Ismael style and while they have the players in terms of physicality, it will be interesting to see how fit they are this early in the season. If they are ready for what is to come then the Baggies could go well here but I sense they’ll work their way into the campaign rather than hit the ground running.
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Team News
Bournemouth are hoping to have full-back Jack Stacey available for this match despite him picking up an injury in the cup tie last week. Chris Mepham is available after serving his suspension but Jefferson Lerma remains suspended.
West Brom face fitness concerns over Sam Johnstone and Adam Reach so David Button is likely to be between the sticks here. There will be no Matheus Pereira after his exit from the club was confirmed on Friday afternoon.
Betting
I’m expecting to see a few goals throughout this weekend with heightened atmospheres with full stadiums for the first time in 17 months and that can begin here with two sides that have a decent forward line but probably aren’t as strong as they would like in defence. Bournemouth might have something of an advantage in that they have played a competitive match already but I’m not sure that will worry West Brom too much.
West Brom are likely to be a more offensive side this season. Barnsley were pretty attack minded under Ismael last term and with better forward players that should make the Baggies dangerous but Bournemouth don’t lack for goals or attacking power themselves so I’m expecting an open game with plenty of excitement and at least three goals. You can get even money on over 2.5 goals and that looks good to me.
Tips
Back Over 2.5 goals for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with BetVictor
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